Box-filling machine.



W.- G.- KENDALL.

BOX FILLING MACHINE. APPLICATION HLBDVAEB.. 17. 191e.y

1,082,876. Patented Dee. 3o, 1913.

4 SHBETS-SHEBT l2.

W. G. KENDLL.

BOX FILLING MACHINE..

APPLIUATION FILED APR. 17, 191,3.

.Patented Dec; 30, 1913.

4 SAHEETS-SHEET 3.

y i 70 IHMl cLUMuIA PLANOURAPH CO.,WASHINGTON. D. c,

W. G. KENDALL.

' BOX FILLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 17, 191s.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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CULUHBIA PLANOGRAPH C0. WASHINGTON, D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM er. KENDALL, 0E NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, AssIGNoR or ONE-HALE ToFREDERIC s. ivrAsoN, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

BOX-FILLING MACHINE.

To all 'LU/10m imag concern.'

Be it known that I, VILLIAM G; KENDALL, a 'citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Box-FillingMachines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to mechanism for filling small boxes andparticularly to a mechanism for filling tablets into boxes.

The primary object of my invention is to provide means whereby tabletsdeposited initially in the hopper maybe formed into rows, each rowcontaining a certain number of tablets and the rows of tablets carriedinto a box and depositedl in their regular order.

A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby tabletsdisposed in a hopper may be readily fed from the hopper in such manneras to prevent the tablets from jamming at the discharge mouth of thehopper and breaking.

A further object is to provide a tablet carrier adapted to beshiftedinto or out of position beneath the hopper, and to receive adenite number of tablets and arrange these tablets in certain regularorder, this carrier being movable away from the hopper to deposit thetablets in the boxes, the mouth of the hopper being closed by a cut-offmovable with the carrier. y

`A further object of the invention' 1s to provide in connection witha-carrier having means for-supporting tablets in rows, means for forcingthe tablets out of the carrier' and into position upon a table, and inthis connection to provide means whereby the rows of tablets after theyleave the carrier may be shifted toward each other so as to decrease thearea covered by the tablets and so that they may bedeposited in arelatively small box in their proper position and order.

A further object is to `provide a tiltable table and box support adaptedto receive an inverted box and also receive upon its surface the orderedrows of tablets, the support being tiltable and being provided with aplunger so that the tablets and the box may be inverted and the tabletsdischarged into the box in their regular order.

A further object of the invention is to pro-vide a. construction of thecharacter stated which will require a minimum of at- Speeication ofLetters Patent.

Application filed April 17, 1913.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913. Serial No. 761,862.

is a plan view. Fig. 2l is a longitudinal section taken on the line 4 4of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the box support detached.Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of t-he box support and the tableadjacent thereto, showing the parts in the position in which they aredisposed when filling. Fig. 7 is a like view to Fig. 6 but showing thebox supporting table inverted and the tablets deposited within the box.Fig. 8 is a fragmentary cross section on the line 8 8 of Fig. 2. Fig. 9is a detail view of the latch for supporting the plunger carryingmembers.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawingsby the same reference characters.

Referring now to Fig. l, 2 designates a base plate of any suitablecharacter and having thereon the upwardly extending supporting post 3.The upper end of this post supports a transversely extending plate tformed integral with a rearwardly extending sleeve 5. Superposed uponthe plate 4- is a cap plate 6, and mounted upon this plate 6 is anangle-bracket 7. The rearwardly extending sleeve 5 forms a guide. for areciprocating rod as will be later olescribed, and extending upward fromthe sleeve 5 is a saddle 8 supporting bearings for .an eccentric shaft9. This shaft constitutes the driving shaft of the machine and isprovided with a pulley 10 whereby power' may be applied to the shaft todrive it. The shaft 9 is formed with eccentrics l()a which operatereciprocating rods 10? whereby power is transmitted to the brushes 18.

Att-ached to the angle iron 7 and disposed at the end of the sleeve 5 isa chamber 11 rectangular in form, the interior of the chamber being alsorectangular and relatively narrow, the end walls of the chamber flaringoutwardly as at 12 and resting upon these end walls is a supportingplate 13 of any suitable material, preferably of hard fiber. Mountedupon the supporting plate is a cylindrical member 14 which constitutes ahopper'. This is heldin position against the plate 13 by means ofvertically extending bolts 15, the lower ends of which are screwthreaded and extend through the plate 13 while the upper ends arehooked, these hooks engaging over the upper edge of the hopper 1li.

The upper face of the chamber 11 isV flat and relatively wide. The underface of the plate 13 is transversely cut away as at 16 (see Fig. 8) toaccommodate reciprocating rods 17 provided with inwardly projectingbristles 18. The plate 13 is formed upon its Y upper face with atransversely extending slot 19 which opens into the recess or cutawayportion 16,-as illustrated in Fig. 8, to permitthe tablets containedwithin the hopper 14 to pass downward between the reciprocating brushes18 and into parallel guide ways 19 formed .within the chamber 11. Thechamber 11 is divided longitudinally into these guideways by meansof alo-ngitudinally extending partition plate or septum 20, as seen mostclearly in Figs. 3 and 8. rlhe elongated passages 19 are of a sizeadapted to receive a tablet when the tablet is on edge, but they are toowide to receive the tablet unless it is turned upon its edge. The objectof the reciprocating` brushes is to shift the tablets which are adjacentto thel brushes so that all the tablets will eventually be turned from ahorizontal position into a vertical position, and thus be in position todrop down through the passageways 19.

Disposed within thc sleeve 5 is a guide rod 21 which is formed integralwith a tablet carrier designated generally 22. This tablet carrier hasthe same cross sectional area as the chamber 11. The upper edge face ofthe carrier is rounded as at 23 and the nuclei' edge of the chamber' 11is convarea equal to the diametrical section of one of the tablets, eachcompartment beingl adapted however to contain a plurality of tablets.

In the form of my invention illustrated, the tablets are about the sizeshown in Fig. 2 and designated a, and under these circ-umstances thecompartments are designed to receive about seven tablets. As shown, inFig. 9, the interior of the carrier is divided longitudinally by meansof a partition plate or septum 211 and transversely by means of septums25. The carrier therefore will contain ninety-eight tabletsaltogcther-forty Vnine on each side of the septum 24 and seven in eachcompartment of the carrier.

Extending downward from the end walls of the carrier are the guide rods26, shown most clearly in Fig. 2, these guide rods being provided attheir ends with nuts or heads 27. Mounted upon these guide rods is aslide 28. Disposed in each compartment of the carrier is a plunger 29,this plunger forming the inner extremity of al rod 30 whose other end isbifurcated as at 31 and is pivotally connected to the slide 28 at 32 formovement in .a plane parallel to the plane of the slide. The upperfaceof the slide is provided with the button 33 whereby the slide maybehandled; It is to be noted at this point that the shaft 21' is rotatablewithin the sleeve A5. Vhen the carrier is in the position shown in Fig.1 and beneath the chamber 11, the compartments in the carrier will bevertically disposed, one series of compartments alining with one of thepassageways 19 and the otherseries with the other passageway 19, asillustrated in Fig. 8. rl`he weight of the slide 28 holds the'plungers29 at the. lower ends of the compartments of the carrier so that thetablets passing into the receiving chamber 11 will be directed into thecompartments of the carrier and will fall therein in vertical rows, asillustrated in Fig. 2.

The receiving table upon which thev tablets are designed to be depositedby means of the carrier 22, is mounted upon a standard designated 34.Disposed in this standard is a vertically adjustable post 35 carryingupon it the table 36. VFormed integral with the table or otherwiserigidly connected thereto is a sleeve 37. Attached to the upper face ofthe table 36 are the laterally disposed marginal guide member 38,' therear inner faces of which are beveled outward and rearward as at 39.These marginal members 38 form side walls to the table and disposedbetween these marginal members 38 are a Y plurality of verticallydisposed I guiding strips 40. As will be seen from Fig. 3, there arefour of these guiding strips 49 arranged i'io in two pairs, one pairhaving a divergent re-` the tablets, and this Vouter guiding strip.

is in turn spaced from the face 39 a distance equal to one of thetablets. The guideways formed between these guiding strips and the face39 are thus adapted to registerwith the compartments in the carrier whenthe carrier is shifted outward from lbeneath the chamberll and intoalinement with the table 36. Y Y Y Losasvs Extending into the sleeve 37is a shaft 41 as illustrated in Fig. 4, this shaft carrying upon it abox support designated 42. This box support is in the form of a table,the under side of which is formed toreceive and be rigidly attached tothe shaft 41. The upper face of the table is formed with laterallydisposed walls 43 of the same width as the walls 33 of table 36 and thelength of the table is exactly the same as the length ofa box A designedto receive the tablets.

The outer extremity of the table carries a plate 44 cut away to providea central upstanding portion and two lateral upstanding tongues 45 whichregister with the walls 43. These tongues are adapted to engage aninverted box in the manner illustrated in Fig. 6. In order tocenter thebox properly upon the box supporting table, I provide the laterallydisposed blocks 46 which are held to the walls 43 by screws or othersuitable devices. The inner faces of these blocks 46 are disposedoutwardof the inner faces of the side walls 43 as illustrated in Fig. 5.When the box A is inverted upon the bo-x support as illustrated in Fig.6, the side walls of the box rest upon the inner margins of the sidewalls 43 and the side walls bear against and are held against lateraldisplacement by the blocks 46. The side walls pass through the spacebetween the tongues and 44 and the box cover, if the cover is hinged tothe box body,` extends downward and outward. y It will be seen that inthis position which is that shown in Fig. 6, the inverted box'bodyentirely covers the free space of the table 42. Disposed upon the faceof the table is a plunger plate 47 which has the same area as theinterior of the box A. The plunger plate is attached to a plunger rod 48which extends down 4 through the table 42 and projects below the sameand is there provided with a .handle 49. It will thus be seen that thetable 42 may rotate from the position shown in Fig. 6 to the positionshown in Fig. 7, and that when so rotated, the plunger plate will dropand carry whatever tablets there may have been deposited upon theplunger plate into the box.

In order to support the carrier in a horizontal position and in registerwith the'entranceV end ofthe table 36, I provide a latch designatedgenerally 5() and `illustrated in detail in Fig. 9. This latch ismounted in an upwardly extending supporting post or in any othersuitable support which may be used, the post being designated 51. Thelatch is normally pressed outward by means of a spring 52 disposedwithin the post and engaging the renuced shank of the latch. The forwardface of the latch on its Aunder side is beveled as at 53. Normally thelatch projects out into the path `of movement of one of the guides 26when the guide is turned from a vertical to a horizontal position, andit will be obvious that as the guide moves upward past the latch it willengage the bevel face 53 and force the latch inward against the force ofspring 52, and that as soon as the guide has passed the latch, spring 52will force the latch outward again.

In order to permit the depression of the carrier from a horizontal to avertical position, it is necessary to withdraw the latch and for thispurpose I have provided a Einger lever 54 which is pivotally supportedupon the upper end of the standard 51 and which has an angularlyextended end 55 engaging around the shank of the latch and engaging witha head 56 formed on the end of said shank. By a depression of the freeend of this lever 54, the latch may be retracted.

The operation of my invention is as follows: The tablets which are aboutthe size of those illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 are lilled into thehopper 14. No tablets can pass into the receiving chamber 11 unless theyare turned upon their side as the compartments formed on each side ofthe septum 20 are only as wide as the thickness of one of the tablets.The tablets fall into the two passageways or guideways 19 as illustratedin Fig. 3. The dropping of the tablets into the passageways 19 is aidedby the continual reciprocation of the brushes 17. This continualreciprocation is secured by connecting the wheel 10 to any suitablemotor, or the wheel may be operated by hand. The bristles 18 of thebrushes will not damage the tablets but merely agitate the tablets untilthey turn in a vertical position as illustrated in Fig. 8 and pass downinto the passageways 19. At this time the. carrier 22 is disposedbeneath the chamber 11 in the position shown in Figs. 2 and S. Thetablets therefore are guided into the compartments from the hopper,these compartments being shown` in Fig. 2. Each compartment is adaptedto contain seven tablets. There are seven of these compartments on eachside of the middle septum 24 and as a consequence the carrier is adaptedto contain ninety-eight tablets altogether, in other words, just enoughtablets to lill one of the boxes illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7. After thecarrier has been filled it is moved outward and as it moves outward, theshaft or bar 21 acts as a cut-off closing the lower end of thecompartment 11. When the carrier has been moved completely outward, itis in alinenient with the receiving table 36 as illustrated in Fig. 3.The slide 2S is then moved inward by hand and the pushers or plungers 29act to push the tablets out of the compartments of the carrier and ontothe table 36. It will be understood that there are as many pushers orplungers as there are compartments in the carrier.

As the tablets and the plungers move forward onto the table 36, theouter tablets are guided inward or toward the longitudinal center of thetable by means of the guides 40 and 40@ and the plungers are also guidedirl the same manner, this being permitted by reason that the plungerrods are pivoted at their rear ends to the slide QS. The slide 28 ispushed inward until the tablets have all beenforced over onto the faceof the plunger 47 in the position illustrated inl Fig. 6. Previous tothis, a box A has been placed upon the upper face of the box support andinverti edv over the plunger, the box being supported in such positionhowever that the tablets may pass beneath the box. then the tablets havebeen deposited upon the face of the plunger 47, they will form a squareas illustrated in Fig. 3, there being seven tablets on each side of thesquare and there being two layers of these tablets. `When the tabletshave been entirely deposited upon the plunger 47, the box support isrotated to the position shown inV Fig. 7 whereupon the plunger will fallcarrying the tablets down into the box. The box is then removed and thecarrier returned to its original position for a new charge. IIei'etoforethese boxescontaining small tablets of this character have been filledby hand, an operation requiring about tive or six minutes inasmuch asthe tablets have to be arranged by the use of small pincers and pointedinstruments. With my device, a box can be filled in about a half aminute and absolutely no skilled labor is required to do so.

While I have illustrated the mechanism which is operated entirely byhand, I wish it understood that I do not intend to be limited to this asit is obvious that the means for reciprocating the carrier and rotatingit and operating the plungers might be automatic in their action. Myinvention is very effective for the purpose intended, is simple inconstruction, easy to operate and has no complicated parts to get out oforder.

lvVhat I claim is:

l. In a box filling mechanism, a vertically ldisposed hopper, a carriermovable into and out of position beneath thedischarge opening of thehopper, the carrier beino` mounted for rotative movement from ahorizontal into a. vertical position, stops for limiting the rotativemovement of the hopper, a plunger disposed in the carrier and movabletherethrough, and a horizontally disposed receiving table with which thecarrier registers when turned into a horizontal position.

Q. In a box filling mechanism, a hopper having a discharge opening, acarrier rotatably and slidably mounted beneath the hopper, the carrierbeing rotatable from a vertical to a horizontal position and slidableinto and out of position beneath the discharge opening of the hopper, areceivingI table, and means for discharging tablets from the carrieronto said'receiving table.

3. In a box filling mechanism, a hopper having a discharge opening, arotatably and slidably mounted carrier movable into and out of positionbeneath t-he discharge opening of the hopper and rotatable from avertical to a horizontal position, plungers mounted within the carriernormally at the lower end thereof, and a horizontally disposed receivingtable wit-h which the carrier is adapted to register when moved out ofengagement with the hopper and turned into a horizontal position. Y

4. In a box filling mechanism, a hopper having a discharge duct leadingtherefrom, the duct being longitudinally divided'into two halves, acarrier rotatably and slidably mounted, said carrier being divided by apartition into two halves corresponding to the two halves of the duct,plungers disposed in each of the compartments so formed, and a receivingtable with which the carrier is adapted to register when moving out ofengagement with the hopper and turned to a horizontal position.

5. In a box filling machine, a hopper having a discharge duct leadingtherefrom, the duct being relatively long and relatively narrow andbeing divided longitudinallyV into two halves, a carrier movable intoand out of position beneathsaid duct and having the same cross sectionalarea as the duct, the carrier being divided by a longitudinal partitioninto two lateral halves, said halves being in turn divided into aplurality of compartments by means of transverse partitions, plungersoperable through said carrier, means for rotating the carrier from avertical position to a horizontal position, and a receiving tablewithvthe face of which the opening in the carrier is adapted to alinewhen the carrier is turned to a horizontal position. e

6. In a box filling machine, a hopper, a chamber disposedv beneath thehopper and formed with a vertically disposed duct, a carrier movableinto and out of position beneath said chamber and having a plurality ofvertically disposed compartments, a shaft upon which the carrier ismounted, the shaft being shiftable with the carrier and acting as acut-oft closing the mouth'of saidduct when the carrier is shiftedoutward and away from registration with the duct, a horizontallydisposed receiving table into registry with Vwhich the carrier may beturned, and means moving with the carrier for discharging the contentsof the carrier upon said receiving table. l

7. In a box filling machine, ahopper, a chamber disposed beneath thehopper and formedV with a vertically extending duct, the lower face ofthe chamber being concavely rounded, a shaftV Vrotatably and slidinglymounted in alinement with the under face of the chamber, a carrierVmounted upon `the shaft and having a convexiace conforming to theconcave face of the chamber, a horizontally disposed receiving tablemounted to one side of the said chamber, the carrier being shitable frombeneath the chamber into a position in alinement with the receivingtable and being rotatable from a vertical position to a horizontalposition, plungers disposed within said carrier and adapted to dischargethe contents of the carrier upon the receiving table, a box supportrotatably mounted adjacent the receiving table and having a plungerwhose upper tace is flush with the receiving table,means for supportinga box in an inverted position upon the box support, and means wherebythe box support may be inverted to permit the plunger to carry thearticle supported thereon into said box.

S. In a box iilling machine, a carrier longitudinally shiftable androtatable from a vertical to a horizontal plane, the interior of thecarrier being divided into a plurality of compartments, guide rodsextending from the carrier, a slide mounted on the guide rods, aplurality of plungers, o-ne for each of said compartmentsmounted attheir ends in said slide, means :tor discharging tablets into thecarrier, and a receiving table upon which the carrier discharges whenturned to a horizontal position.

9. In a machine for lilling boxes with tablets, a receiving` tablehaving a plurality of guide walls converging for a portion of theirlength, and a plurality of plungers disposed between each pairof guidewalls and movable longitudinally therebetween and adapted to shift rowsof tablets along the face of the plate parallel to the guide walls tothereby cause the rows of tablets to be longitudinally shifted andsimultaneously brought nearer to each other.

10. In a machine for filling boxes with tablets, a receiving tablehavingside walls converging for a portion of their length and spaced guidesextending parallel to the side walls7 of means for discharging rows oftablets upon the face of said receiving plate and for shifting the`tablets along the face of the plate parallel to the side walls of theguides to thereby cause the rows of tablets to be brought nearer to eachother, and a box support arranged adjacent to and flush with thereceiving table and having side walls and an end wall and includingmeans for supporting a box in an inverted position.

11. In a machine for filling tablets into boxes, a hopper, a tabletcarrier, means intermediate of the carrier and hopper for arranging thetablets in the same vertical plane and discharging them into saidcarrier, means :tor shifting the carrier outl from beneath the hopperand rotating the carrier into a horizontal plane, a receiving table uponwhich the carrier is adapted to discharge, means on the receiving tablevfor causing the rows of tablets as they pass the receiving table to beshifted toward the longitudinal axis of the receiving table, a rotatablebox support having its face flash with the receiving table, means forsupporting a box in an inverted position thereon, and means io-r movingthe contents of the carrier over the tace of the receiving table andonto the face of the box support.

12. In a machine for filling tablets into boxes, a receiving tablehaving side walls, the rear ends of the side walls having diver'- gentrelation, guides extending parallel to the side walls and spacedtherefrom, guides intermediate the last named guides and disposedparallel to the longitudinal axis of the receiving table and spaced fromeach other, a box support mounted in proximity to the table and flushtherewith, means for supporting a box in an inverted position upon thebox support, and means for dis charging rows of tablets upon thereceiving table and between said series of guides.

13. In a machine for filling boxes with tablets, the combination with areceiving table having side walls, the rear portions of which havedivergent relation to each other, guides spaced from the side walls andfrom each other and extending parallel to the rear portions of the sidewalls, intermediate guides between the first named guides, of a tabletcarrier movable into alinement with the receiving table and beingdivided into a plurality oi' compartments adapted to aline with thespaces between said guides, a slide mounted upon said carrier, and aplurality ot plungers pivotally mounted upon said slide, one for each ofsaid compartments, said plungers having movement in a vertical planewhereby to permit the plungers to be laterally shifted by said guides onthe receiving table.

14. In a` machine for filling boxes with tablets, a box supportrotatable in a vertical plane, a plunger mounted upon and constitutingthe face of the box support, means for supporting a box in an invertedposition over said plunger, means for arranging tablets in a pluralityof rows, and means for discharging said tablets upon the tace of theplunger.

15. In a machine for filling boxes with tablets, a carrier slidably androtatably mounted and divided into a plurality of compartments, aplurality of plungers closing the outer ends of said compartments, aslide mounted upon the carrier and to which the plungers are connected,means for discharging the tablets into the compartments of the carrier,a horizontally disposed receiving table into alinement with which thecarrier is adapted to be shifted, means for support ing the carrier in ahorizontally disposed position in register with the face of thereceiving table, and a box support mounted beyond the receiving tableand having means for supporting a box in an inverted posit-ion, said boxsupport including a plunger normally lush with the face of the receivingtable.

16. In a machine for filling boxes with tablets, a box support rotatablein a vertical plane and normally supported in a horizontal plane, saidbox support being adapted to support a box in an inverted position overthe face of the support, means for arranging tablets in a plurality ofseparated rows, means for causing the tablets to move laterally towardeach other to thereby contract the width of the space occupied by thetablets, and means for discharging said tablets upon the face of the boxsupport.

17. In a machine for filling boxes with tablets, a box support rotatablein a vertical plane and normally supported in a horizontal plane, areceiving table horizontally disposed iiush with the face of the boxsupport when the latter is in a horizontal position, means for arrangingtab-lets in a plurality of separated rows, means for shifting said ro-wsof tablets across the face of the receiving table and onto the face ofthe box support, and means acting while the tablets are being shiftedacross the face of the receiving table for guiding said rowstoward eachother and toward the longitudinal axis of the receiving table to therebycontract the total width co-vered by the rows of tablets.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM G. KENDALL. "[L. s.] IVitnesses y FREDERICK M. BoLLns,l HENRY E.WooDBURN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, Vby addressingthe Commissioner ofY Patents,

Washington, D. C.

